Entomology Final Exam
Pollination services provided by bees to commercial crops in the US alone are estimated to be:
$16 Billion
What form of bioterrorism would the Japanese likely used against the United States had WWII continued?
Clay bombs for disseminating plague-infested fleas.
What insect did Emily Dickinson celebrate in a poem?
Cricket
What insect order only has one pair of wings, instead of the usual two pairs?
Diptera (true flies)
A newly-molted periodical cicada is white and its cuticle will darken over time. Why might these cicadas prefer to mold on eucalyptus trees, which have white bark?
Eucalyptus trees camouflage vulnerable cicadas from predators.
What is frass?
Excrement
Bamboo larvae is a great low-calorie food option.
False
Because insects are small, they don't have to breathe oxygen.
False
Caddisfly larvae is a sign that the water has a high amount of bacteria harmful to humans.
False
The silkworms were being infected by one disease. It spread through frass but presents differently depending on the development stage of the silkworm.
False
CO2, water vapor, lactic acid, sweat and urine are all solutions to what problem of blood feeding insects?
Finding a host.
How do blood feeding insects deal with the challenge of reducing body size following a blood meal?
Activate their Malpighian tubules to separate water and salts from blood and excrete them.
Why might a male insect present a nuptial gift to a female with whom he wants to mate?
All: 1) The nuptial gift may show that the male is likely to be a good provider. 2) The nuptial gift may assist in nourishing the female helping her to produce a larger mass of eggs. 3) The nuptial gift may distract the female allowing the male to transfer sperm to her for a longer period of time and also distract the female from eating the male.
Why were medieval physicians baffled by the plague?
All: 1) The symptoms varied widely depending on the form of the disease. 2) There was no understanding of the role of pathogens as disease-causing agents. 3) Disease was thought to be caused by an imbalance in the body's humors.
Besides providing sperm for fertilization, accessory fluids from the male also:
All: 1) provide energy for the sperm. 2) provide lubrication. 3) can induce the female to oviposit the eggs.
The method of sex determination where unfertilized eggs become males and fertilized eggs become females is known as _______________.
Haplo-diploidy
Why is Claude Bernard important to biology?
He performed experiments with live animals that allowed him to elucidate the role of the pancreas and the liver in digestion.
Although there are many armed conflicts that one could study to understand the importance of insect-vectored disease, the various military campaigns of Napoleon are particularly attractive. Which of the following is not a reason for using Napoleon as an exemplar?
He was forced to abdicate in 1813.
How has honey been used as a biological weapon in the past?
Honey produced from the flowers of certain plants can be poisonous.
As of 2016, what is the only insect represented in major professional sports by a team name?
Hornets
Which of the following are effective ways of controlling typhus? I. Antibiotics to kill Rickettsia II. DDT to kill the human body louse III. Bed nets to prevent the human body louse from feeding
I and II
Why are insects good model organisms for the study of cancer? I. They are numerous and cheap to maintain in colony II. They have short generation times III. They share the same level of concern by animal activists
I and II
Why did the priests stop administering last rites to the dying during the plague? I. The priests themselves were dying II. the priests were afraid of catching the plague III. The priests no longer felt it necessary to administer last rites.
I and II
Which insects vector diseases?
Both: 1) Sandfly and mosquitoes. 2) Lice
There are two ways to become resistant to malaria: acquired vs. genetic. Which statement(s) is/are true about acquired resistance?
Both: 1) it can occur in individuals who were exposed to malaria and survived it. 2) it is less effective than genetic resistance.
A person came to you complaining of insects living under their skin. You diagnose them as having __________.
Delusionary Parasitosis
Entomophobia is synonymous with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
False
Entomophobia is the easiest of the three types of insect fears to treat.
False
What kinds of genes did Y. pestis pack into plasmids?
Genes for virulence.
Which of the following would be considered a glandular defense? I. Spray II. Feces III. Ooze
I and III
All of the following are factors int he decline of honeybees, except:
Increased number of active beekeepers.
Which of the following is not true about Fredriech Christian Lesser?
Lesser's book was drawn, in large part, from Paley's more successful book on Natural Theology.
The insect vector of typhus in humans is--
Lice
The statements below are true, except:
The Bombyx mori moth thrives in nature and sericulture.
Why could Napoleon not take on the British directly?
The British had a superior Navy.
There are two general ideas about how blood feeding evolved among arthropods. Which of the following is not considered a tentative but testable idea about how arthropods came to be blood feeders?
There were severe food shortages in very arid environments that led arthropods to seek a host that could provide nutrition.
What technology did Thomas Hunt Morgan use to produce mutant fruit flies?
X-Ray Radiation
In which venues was domestically-produced DDT used after WW II?
agriculture and human health campaigns
One reason that there are so many versions of Song of the Flea by so many composers is:
fleas were used in music appearing in the Damnation of Faust which several composers decided to write about.
Saint Sebastian became one of the saints thought to be able to help people avoid the plague because:
he survived being shot with multiple arrows and arrows were understood to be a symbol of the plague.
Which properties of DDT attracted the attention of Swiss Chemist, Paul Muller, when he worked on DDT?
insecticidal power and persistence
Which group of words accurately describes the insect respiratory system?
passive diffusion, spiracle, tracheole
The following are true about the three major forms of entomological warfare, except:
According to the 1972 Biological Weapons convention, only toxins could be classified as a biological weapon.
Which of the following statements is not true about stridulation?
All insects do it.
In order to establish a sustainable economy in the newly established southern states in the US, what labor options were open to the colonists?
All were available to southerners trying to establish a labor force: 1) Indentured servants 2) Indian (native American) slaves 3) African slaves
The blocked proventriculus of the rat flea by the plague bacterium was important because:
All: 1) Blood from the host could not move into the stomach of the flea to nourish the flea. 2) It caused the fleas to bite more people in an attempt to nourish itself. 3) The blocked proventriculus meant that the plague bacterium was multiplying inside the flea making it more infectious as the multiplication progressed.
The French army was renowned for its fighting prowess and its might. Why was the French army in such bad shape by the time it reached Moscow?
All: 1) It was a very long trip on foot that exhausted the soldiers. 2) chronic malnutrition. 3) inadequate housing.
How did Lesser deal with the fact that insects are often the cause of great human misery?
All: 1) Lesser said "If God meant that animals should live within us, they must be necessary for our welfare. 2) Lesser noted that the trials caused by insects and the suffering they caused would bring us closer to God. 3) Lesser pointed out that there is social justice in this because rich and poor people alike were stricken by insects that cause disease and other problems.
Many insects invest huge quantities of energy in the production of noxious chemicals. Why do insects make this investment?
All: 1) To kill or immobilize prey. 2) To protect themselves against would-be predators. 3) To defend their offspring from predation.
Why did DDT fall from grace after being revered for 20 years?
All: 1) gas-liquid chromotography revealed that DDT had been spread around the globe and was present even in places where it had never been used. 2) DDT was responsible for fish and bird kills. 3) Rachel Carson reported data showing that DDT was present in the flesh of the average American.
Another popular entomological theme in the Bible and Torah is the locust. In which way is the locust not used in these texts?
As the devil or satan.
It is generally believed that the plague that become the bubonic plague in Europe originated from:
Asia
Why are bacteriophages relevant to a discussion of the Qu'ran?
Because bacteriophages represent a possible scientific explanation of a passage advising one to drink a beverage into which a fly has fallen.
High quality silk requires that the cocoons are collected:
Before the adult emerges.
Sometimes we have used insect-based folk songs to provide musical support to important causes. Which of the following insects was used in an anti-slavery song?
Bluetail Fly
Which statement is true?
Both: 1) Delusionary Parasitosis may be part of a schizophrenic pathology. 2) Cable mites or paper lice might be blamed for itching among coworkers instead of the irritating microfibers coming through the ventilation system.
Why are insects sometimes used in divine texts like the Bible, Torah and Qu'ran?
Both: 1) Parts of their biology can be a device for explaining aspects of human behavior. 2) Insects and their characteristics can be used to explain how the natural world works.
What is the main difference in the basic functions of the excretory systems in terrestrial and aquatic insects?
Both: 1) Terrestrial insects seek to conserve water while aquatic insects seek to eliminate it. 2) Terrestrial insects seek to eliminate salt while aquatic insects seek to retain it.
Although the symptoms of yellow fever can vary, among the most distressing to look at are:
Both: 1) bloodshot eyes and yellow (jaundiced) skin. 2) blood oozing from every oriface.
In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner:
Both: 1) expiated sin through the selling of indulgences. 2) was deeply corrupt.
Which statement is true?
Buried ants can use stridulation to attract worker ants to extract them.
Which statement is false about the picture below? [Picture of Ornatrix Moth] I. Spiders will free it from their web. II. The toxicity of this moth depends on its diet. III. The toxic chemical produced contains peptides which are highly toxic. IV. Males are judged by the amount of froth it has on its next while courting a female.
III and IV
Once you get beyond the "yuck factor", which of the following is not a reason for eating insects?
Insects have exoskeletons.
What is the function of the Duffy antigen?
It is a receptor on red blood cells that allows Plasmodium vivax to enter and infect red blood cells.
On page 1 of Lesser's book, Lesser states "The vilest insect is the work of omnipotence, worthy of highest admiration. It is endowed with so many perfections, that the most powerful monarch or the most skillful artist, can produce nothing to be compared with it." What is the importance of this statement?
It was an argument that insects could and should be used to validate God's existence because insects shared the same complexity and evidence of design that other more popular animals did.
Why might it be useful to add juvenilizing hormone to 5th instar honeybees?
It would prompt them to undergo a supernumerary molt and ultimately become stronger and bigger adults.
If you had to pick one order of insects that has been used in popular music more than any other order, it would be:
Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths).
Which statement about this spider is false? [Picture of Orb Weaver]
Males grow to palm size.
The most famous incident of insects interrupting a sporting event happened when a swarm of what type of insect invaded Jacobs Field in Cleveland, OH during an evening baseball playoff game between the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees?
Midges
Which statement about the Syrian campaign is true?
More soldiers were killed by disease than died from battle wounds.
What is one of the best ways to prevent malaria?
Mosquito netting around the bed.
Why did only 3,000 solders return to France from Haiti?
None of the answers provided.
What was likely the most important ingredient in Theric, the Universal Antidote, for treating the symptoms of the plague?
Opium
When Japan was drawn into WW II, the Japanese showed a particular devotion to bioterrorism. Although the Japanese were involved in studying many diseases that could potentially be used as bioterrorism weapons, what is the disease for which Japanese interest was so keen that they built a 4 story granary and performed experiments on human beings?
Plague
Which of the following is not an attribute of the Decameron?
Readers were told that plague would not harm them.
Which of the following parasites is correctly paired with its target in its host?
Rickettsia - blood vessels
The process of rearing silk-producing insects in captivity to produce silk for humans is termed _____.
Sericulture
Name the theory/law: Genes for different traits behave independently from one another.
The Law of Independent Assortment
Which of the following biological factor did NOT play a role in West Africans' resistance to malaria?
The acquired resistance to Plasmodium vivid.
One major challenge faced by some insects that humans don't face is:
The fact that some life stages of an insect might be aquatic while others are terrestrial.
If an arthropod was living on a vertebrate host but feeding primarily on sloughed off skin, why might such an arthropod switch to blood feeding?
The nutritional value of sloughed off skin is fairly low and an arthropod would be able to survive and reproduce better if it had a nutrient rich food source.
Bee swarms at baseball stadiums is a story that has made the news several times in recent years. What is the likely reason for the apparent increase in bee activity at baseball games?
There is simply more media attention and more people to take notice of swarms in stadiums.
One treatment for plague used commonly during the medieval plague that might have had some benefit associated with it was:
Theriac
Which statement is true about algogenic toxins?
They are pain producing compounds.
Bed bugs are thigmotaxic. What does this mean?
They prefer to reside in places where they are closely surrounded by shelter, e.g., cracks in a wall.
Ion channel gates are basically the same for humans and insects.
True
The green bottle fly is the main species used in MDT.
True
The word metamorphosis means "change in form."
True
True or False: DDT followed weather patterns and is present in the polar ice caps.
True
Insects need oxygen to maximize the extraction of ATP from glucose. Which of the of the following is a mechanism for actively increasing the amount of air that gets into an insect?
Using abdominal muscles to alternately expand and contract the abdomen.
Which of the following statements is not part of Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection:
Variation comes from mutation.
Organisms with a circulating body fluid that is distinct from the fluid that directly surrounds the body's cells are likely to have _____.
a closed circulatory system.
If a butterfly larva receives a jolt of ecdysteriod hormone and there is no JH in the larva at the time of the molt, the outcome of the molt will be:
a pupa.
Why would an insect use a baffle to assist in sound production?
baffles cause sound waves to advance in phase which magnifies the sound.
Nosema affects the bees':
digestive tract of adults.
Hans Zisser has provided a number of reasons that human warfare is not properly assessed by historians. His main complaint is that:
diseases claim more casualties than bullets & bombs.
Some insects are themselves unable to sing but are able to use sound produced by other species to cue in on potential prey. We call this phenomenon:
eavesdropping
Which of the following insects is correctly paired with its mouthparts?
mosquito - piercing, sucking mouthparts
It is difficult to think of the Black Death in positive terms, but which of the following is an outcome that made positive changes in the lives of average European peasants?
the feudal system broke down.
Which of the following was not a purpose of the medical tractates written during the time of the Black Death?
to explain how rats and fleas transmitted the plague.
